WLS Codebooks

Note: Codebooks contain frequency data from the private data release. For some variables, these differ from the frequencies in the public release. Variables that differ between the public and private versions include "(not available on public release)" as part of the variable description, or a note indicating the difference between the public and private versions.

Mail: Children

Graduate Mail: Children Module

OVERVIEW

The Children section is new to the 2011 mail survey and supplements the
in-person CAPI interview's Child Roster Module, which collects biographical
information - full names, birth dates, sexes, employment/marital statuses, etc.
- about all of the participant's children. The mail questionnaire expands on
this by asking more detailed questions about each of the participant's living
children. For each living child, the participant is asked about their frequency
of contact with him or her, how close and warm their relationship is, how far
away the child lives, and how considerately the child treats the participant.
In addition to these questions about the nature of the participant's
relationship with each child, they are also asked to report on their levels of
educational attainment and general health. 

Because the participant was asked the same series of questions about each of
their living children, the data for this section of the mail survey has been
organized in a roster form. This means that variables containing the same data
on each of the participant's children will have very similar names. In fact,
they will - for each child - only differ according to two digits. These digits,
ranging from 01 to 17, index the order in which data was collected on the
participant's living children. Thus, the series of variables about how often
the participant talked on the telephone with their child in the past 12 months,
JK03__RE, specifies a different child for each value between 01 and 17.
JK0301RE concerns how often the participant talked on the telephone with the
first child they were asked about, JK0302RE concerns how often they talked with
the second child they were asked about, JK0311RE concerns how often they talked
with the eleventh child they were asked about (if applicable), and so on.
Framed differently, for the first living child the participant was asked about,
all variable names will correspond to the convention JK__01RE, while JK__08RE
will be the convention for the eighth child, JK__10RE for the tenth, and so
forth.   

The participant was asked to report on their living children in the following
order: first, the participant was asked about all biological children, from
oldest to youngest; then, the participant was asked about all step-children
they were still in contact with, from oldest to youngest; and finally, the
participant was asked about any adopted children, from oldest to youngest.   

For biographical information on all of the participant's children, see also the
CAPI administered Child Roster Module.


BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS

    Non-Rostered:
    _____________________________________________________________________
    
    JK0100RE:		    How Many Living Children Was the Participant
    			    Asked to Provide Mail Survey Data About?   
    			  
    			  
    			  
    Rostered: variable names end _01RE for the first child the participant 
    was asked about, _02RE for the second, _11RE for the eleventh (if 
    applicable), and so on. 
    _____________________________________________________________________
    
    JK0201RE:  		    Child Roster Identification Number of 1st 
    			    Living Child Participant Was Asked About
    
    JK0301RE-JK0501RE:	    Frequency of Contact With 1st Living Child
    			    Asked About
    			    
    JK0601RE-JK0901RE:	    Closeness to and Dependability of the 1st 
    			    Living Child Asked About
    
    JK1001RE:		    How Many Miles Away From the Participant Does
    			    the 1st Living Child Asked About Live? 
    
    JK1101RE-JK1401RE:	    How Considerate of the Participant is the 1st
    			    Living Child Asked About? 
    
    JK1501RE:		    Has the 1st Living Child Asked About Ever
    			    Attended One Year or More of College?
    
    JK1601RE:  		    Has the 1st Living Child Asked About Ever
    			    Obtained a Bachelor's Degree?
    
    JK1701RE:		    Participant's Rating of the Health of the 1st
    			    Living Child Asked About